Sign Update

Hi everyone,

I have recently bought some reflective vinyl from Metamark. I then cut out the lettering with arrows and weeded it. When I applied it to the vehicle I used a light spray of water as it had a strong adhesive. However when I lifted it re-align it, lots of specs broke off of the material and stayed on the vehicle and took me about half an hour to remove it!

Could someone advise me why.

The supplier said that this is what the material does when it comes into contact with any surface, that the laminate actually comes away whilst the material stays on the surface.

Surely at £19p/m I must be able to use this? Or can I get a cast reflective, if so where from and how much?

Any advise would be really appreciated.

Mikey

Hi,

I have applied some reflective vinyl recently, but it was 15 to 20 years old. It was still good stuff and easy to apply, but once on, quite brittle if I wanted to move it.

I have just spoken to DoroTape about your post, they did say that the class 1 reflective vinyls which tend to be used on fire engines, ambulances etc that have a high light intensity, do tend to be a little brittle. They can break up into diamond or 50p coin shapes.

The Class 2 reflective vinyls do not do this, but reflect less intensively.

I assume it is Class 1 that you are using? Based on that cost I think it probably is.

Dorotape did also say that they would recommend using a proper application fluid rather than water, as this has solvents and things in it that allow you to move it and reposition it.

Were the specks that broke off shaped like diamonds or hexagon shaped?

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your response.

Yes some of the specks were diamond like shapes, however some were larger.

The material is described as a high quality engineering grade reflective suitable for high visibility vehicle markings (where permitted) and safety signs. It offers 7 year exterior durability, and has a robust PET type film, so does not suffer the brittleness or tearing common to reflective materials, resulting in outstanding ease of application. This product is suitable for application on flat panels or simple curves. Not suitable for use on compound curves or recesses.

Because I could not complete the job the guy wants to use another company however I designed the logo and the rest of the vehicle layout. On my first design I put a copyright symbol with the year and my name, however not on the last visual which I made revisions on. I probably spent about 5 hours in total designing the vehicle plus cutting all the material, so overall I have lost money on this job. Could you advise me how I should proceed, should I have some sort of copyright disclaimer on my email, if so do you have any examples.

Kind regards

Mike

You could ask an IP lawyer for £12 on

www.justanswer.com


You can also look on

[url=http://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/copyright_law/
]law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/copyright_law/
[/url]
to see how copyright works.

In principle the people who used your work could reasonably know that the work you delivered to them was not their copyright, unless it was in the contract that they owned it. If like in this case it was not and if they never paid you for the work, they should not be able to use it. In future, you should put a copyright disclaimer on all your work and stipulate in contracts that the copyright and other intellectual property rights are yours and only with your permission can the client use the work. As the websites show you, there are places you can register your work so it becomes easier to prove if you do go to arbitration or court.

In my opinion there are two things you can do right now, you can tell your client they have violated your copyright and you want payment of a certain sum. If they don't oblige, you could sue. However the latter option is so expensive, it is probably not worth while and the client will know that. Probably a case of once bitten, twice shy, better luck next time...

I hope this helps.

Thanks Lizanne,

I will check out those websites and think about my options.

Kind regards

Mikey

I have used reflective Vinyl a fair bit, and I would say that you have got to get it right first time, you cannot lift it up again, it is brittle once the adhesive has touched the surface.

I am not sure water or application fluids would really help, I tend to do it dry.

Steve.